Mayo Clinic along with NY Medical schools policy is not to accept if anatomical donor has an infectious or a contagious disease. https://www.mayoclinic.org/body-donation/making-donation
Anatomical Donations - Associated Medical Schools of New York
QuoteConditions that may render a body unsuitable include:
•certain infectious diseases (AIDS, Hepatitis, tuberculosis)
•extensive trauma at the time of death
•advanced decomposition
•obesity or malnutrition
Same thing for organ transplant per UNOS and Donor Alliance:
COVID-19 is Currently a Medical Rule-out, but Exposure Does Not Prevent Future Donation
QuoteWith no existing treatment or cure, acute or active COVID-19 is currently a medical rule out for both organ and tissue donation. However, like with many other illnesses, medical science is likely to change that over time and even active coronavirus is not expected to be a rule out for donation in coming years, much like the flu.
https://unos.org/news/covid19/covid-19-refusal-codes-for-txc/
4 hours ago, NRSKarenRN said:Mayo Clinic along with NY Medical schools policy is not to accept if anatomical donor has an infectious or a contagious disease. https://www.mayoclinic.org/body-donation/making-donation
Anatomical Donations - Associated Medical Schools of New York
Same thing for organ transplant per UNOS and Donor Alliance:
COVID-19 is Currently a Medical Rule-out, but Exposure Does Not Prevent Future Donation
https://unos.org/news/covid19/covid-19-refusal-codes-for-txc/
Thanks. Most of that is on organ donation. Thank you for providing it, though it doesn’t quite answer my specific question.
It doesn’t seem clear whether Covid-19 is a rule out for anatomical donation. Both say certain infectious diseases (HIV/AIDS, Hep B/C) are exclusionary. NY AMS criteria read as if only the specifically named diseases are rule outs, and Mayo reads like they are examples but perhaps not exhaustive.
Perhaps at this point the only thing would be to contact a donation program directly.
Silver_Rik, ASN, BSN, RN
201 Posts
I know that Covid-19 victims can not be organ donors (at least I think this is right.) Can their bodies be donated as anatomical cadavers for medical schools, or for Covid-19 research (though I’m not sure anything beyond a thorough autopsy would be useful?)